Freezer - top shelf frosted over -- poor cooling through rest of freezer

Could the frosting over on the top shelf be related to a bad seal or more of a compression issue? No odd noises or knocking is coming from freezer and it doesn't appear to "stay running". It is ten years old

have examined the seala on the door closely and cleaned it well, but it still is not freezing anything on the top shelf.have examined the seala on the door closely and cleaned it well, but it still is not freezing anything on the top shelf.

You may need a new door seal.
But they are not easy to put on properly and I would not recommend spending a lot of money on a ten year old freezer!the new ones are much more energy efficient and will save you a lot of money!

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Neil
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just to be sure that your door is sealing properly, put a flashlight into the freezer and turn off all of the lights in the
room to see if there are any openings in the seal. Iam suggesting you this coz sometimes a small opening may pass our eyes easily....

if the door is sealing properly......If this is the type of freezer where the shelves are the evaporator
coils, the coolant goes through the shelves(tubing) and the formation
of frost is normal and has to be manually defrosted.All the shelves
should be as cold asd the top one. The fact that just one has any frost
may indicate that it is low on freon. If this is the case you should
notice that the freezer doesn't get cold enought just like you said... so check your freon levels.

This could also be because of the thermostat not sensing when the fridge
reaches its set temperature and as a result of this the compressor will
keep on running and build-up of ice will occur.

Follow the advices in the order prescribed above and you should be set

check the door seal on the top of the door if not sitting flat to the frame it will encourage frost to build up (inside the little grid thing)which will stop the rest of the freezer from cooling enough.

I have bad news for you. EAch of your shelves is part of the evaporator coil. This is the coil where the liquid refrigerant expands into a vapor. If only one shelf has frost, and the other shelves no longer do, then you have a low side sealed system leak of your refrigerant. You could have it repaired, but that is a major service call, and to have it repaired properly to EPA regulations, it is quite expensive. sorry

it may be that the door is open a lot witch lets in warm air that go's to the top of your freezer and turns into ice so there maybe nothing wrong with your freezer, in winter we heat the house up and close all the windows this holds in the damp air,, in the summer it should be ok, but to test it place a thermometer in the freezer is should be about -21*f or there abouts for a 4 star freezer

If this is the type of freezer where the shelves are the evaporator coils, the coolant goes through the shelves(tubing) and the formation of frost is normal and has to be manually defrosted.All the shelves should be as cold asd the top one. The fact that just one has any frost may indicate that it is low on freon. If this is the case you should notice that the freezer doesn't get cold enought.

That is normal. The refrigerant runs through those shelves. They are the evaporator side of the unit.That is where the freezing effect comes from.
Check door seals for leaking air.
Keep door openings to a minimum.
Get in there and get out.
Those things will help prolong frost/ice buildup.

If this is a frost free model the fan could be bad. If not frost free it is probably low on freon. I don't recomment fixing this as you can never really trust the freezer again. Most of the time the leak can't be found and adding freon is only a temp solution.

The model number would help but it sounds like a sealed system leak or restriction. If thats the case I would not suggest trying this yourself. The water should freeze overnight and the frost should keep going to all the shelfs that have coils in them.